The Best Lawyers in America® has selected 11 Kutak Rock partners as “Lawyer of the Year” for 2025. This designation goes above and beyond traditional inclusion and is based upon the highest overall peer feedback in a specific practice area and metropolitan region. The “Lawyer of the Year” distinction reflects an extraordinary level of respect that an attorney has earned among his or her peers. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored with a "Lawyer of the Year" award.
The firm’s “Lawyer of the Year” designations for 2025 are:
Arkansas
Fayetteville
Mark W. Dossett: Litigation – Insurance
Mr. Dossett focuses his practice on healthcare, construction, commercial and employment litigation. He represents individual healthcare providers and institutions in matters ranging from medical malpractice defense to nursing home and long-term care defense. He represents clients in all aspects of construction, employment and commercial litigation.
Rogers
Nick Arnold: Banking and Finance Law
Mr. Arnold provides a wide range of representation for his banking clients including: the perfecting and enforcing of real estate and personal property security interests, loan transactions, compliance with laws and regulations concerning emerging privacy issues as well as operational matters. He also has assisted various financial institutions in reviewing, drafting and negotiating loan and security documents, such as loan agreements, mortgages, assignments of leases, assignments of licenses and permits, security agreements, and UCC filing statements.
Russell C. Atchley: Litigation – Construction
Mr. Atchley focuses his trial practice on construction disputes, product liability litigation, complex business litigation, financial institutions litigation and health care litigation. He has extensive experience representing, design/build firms, architects and engineers, contractors and owners in construction disputes and professional liability matters, national banking institutions in business related disputes, manufacturers and retailers in products liability claims and healthcare organizations in several types of litigation.
Colorado
Denver
Matthias M. Edrich: Public Finance Law
Mr. Edrich advises clients on tax structuring of municipal and corporate debt transactions and financing-related section 501(c)(3) exemption matters. He has represented bank lenders and capital markets underwriters, government and corporate issuers, student loan lenders, large hospital systems, housing developers, energy and solid waste recycling companies, manufacturers and various types of section 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
Nebraska
Omaha
Michael G. Mullin: Mediation
Mr. Mullin has extensive litigation experience and has tried to conclusion more than 50 jury trials and numerous bench trials in cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, toxic tort and insurance coverage disputes. He has successfully handled numerous appeals to the Nebraska Court of Appeals, the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bradley Nielsen: Banking and Finance Law
Mr. Nielsen is a member of the firm's Finance and Restructuring Group, has more than 34 years of legal experience in the finance industry and has represented non-bank financial services companies, national and regional banks and their subsidiaries and other financial institutions. Brad has been involved in thousands of transactions over his career and has counseled clients as they develop and rollout financing structures and programs and transfer portfolios of financial assets.
John P. Passarelli: Appellate Practice
Mr. Passarelli concentrates his national practice on complex commercial litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels, with an emphasis on cases involving antitrust, intellectual property and information technology. He has tried bench and jury trials in federal and state courts throughout the United States, including complex commercial cases.
John E. Schembari: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Litigation – ERISA
Mr. Schembari focuses his practice primarily on minimizing his client’s legal risks while ensuring that their employee benefits and executive compensation programs align with their goals. He works with private, public and governmental employers on qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, employee stock ownership plans, insured and self-funded health plans, executive and incentive compensation programs, and other equity-based compensation arrangements. He advises compensation committees, ERISA fiduciaries, in-house counsel, and finance and human resources executives from companies of all sizes, including several of the largest employers in the U.S.
Patrick C. Stephenson: Trademark Law
Mr. Stephenson has more than 30 years of experience advising clients on all aspects of trademark protection and use. He has worked with business teams and in-house counsel to assist clients in every aspect of developing and adopting protectable trademarks and best practices for using and protecting valuable trademark assets. He has routinely guided clients of all sizes through every step of the trademark clearance and registration process and has maintained portfolios consisting of thousands of domestic and international trademarks.
Jeffrey T. Wegner: Litigation – Banking and Finance; Litigation – Bankruptcy
Mr. Wegner has 30 years of experience representing banks, institutional lenders, landlords and lessors in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. He has appeared in business bankruptcy cases in over 40 jurisdictions on behalf of the firm’s clients. Mr. Wegner is a recognized expert in bankruptcy law.
Virginia
Richmond
Peter J. Barrett: Litigation – Bankruptcy
Mr. Barrett represents unsecured and secured creditors, trustees, lessors, equity holders and corporate debtors in insolvency matters, including Chapter 11 reorganizations, business liquidations and loan workouts. He also represents clients in connection with acquisition of distressed assets and insolvency-related litigation.
About Best Lawyers
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